Specimen sorting system

Abstract

In a specimen sorting system, the presence of a specimen case holder can easily be detected, and specimen-related information relating to a specimen in a specimen case that is held by the specimen case holder can be obtained at the same time. In this specimen sorting system, an information transmission/reception tag is attached to the specimen case holder, and an information transmitter/receiver is disposed near the side of a conveyor lane that conveys the specimen case holder. The specimen case held by the specimen case holder is sorted on the basis of information transmission/reception between the information transmission/reception tag and information transmitter/receiver.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A specimen sorting system wherein an infor-mation transmission/reception tag is attached to a specimen case holder that holds a specimen case, an information transmitter/receiver is disposed near a side of a conveyor lane that conveys the specimen case holder, and the specimen case that is held by the specimen case holder is sorted on the basis of information transmission/reception between the information transmission/reception tag and the information transmitter/receiver.  
     
     
         2 . The specimen sorting system according to  claim 1 , wherein the information transmission/reception between the information transmission/reception tag and the information transmitter/receiver is effected by a radio wave method.  
     
     
         3 . A specimen sorting system that conveys and sorts a specimen case holder that holds a specimen case containing a specimen, comprising: 
 an information transmission/reception tag that is attached to the specimen case holder and is capable of transmitting/receiving specimen-related information relating to the specimen;    conveyor means for conveying the specimen case holder;    an information transmitter/receiver that is disposed near a side of the conveyor means and is capable of transmitting/receiving the specimen-related information to/from the information transmission/reception tag; and    sorting means for sorting the specimen case holder on the basis of the specimen-related information obtained from the information transmitter/receiver.